Ashes...

Ashes....

This is a dry summer and the fires are burning up a lot of dry areas nearby in the forests as well as grasslands...
Sometimes the smoke is blown into the town where I live and other times it is  blown in other directions...
Yesterday I found it "raining ashes" outside...everything was covered with ashes from nearby fires...the ashes continued to "rain" off and on all day, covering more and more with its white/gray grit.

Earlier this year, I watched the movie, "the zoo keeper's wife", with a scene of the burning of the Jewish portion of Warsaw in World War 2....the "raining" of ashes covered much...lives and property lost because of the dryness and deadness of the hearts of the Nazis at the time...the hatred of God's chosen people...

On TV, we see over and over again the protests of one thing or another, the clashing of ideas, people, causes....some peaceful, some with injuries and still others with death and pillage...so dreadful to watch as cultures disintegrate into chaos..."wars and rumors of wars"...

Dryness and deadness of souls without Christ...spreading the ashes over much...

This verse came to mind as i watched the ashes silently float down...

Isaiah 61:3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.

Grief turned from ashes to beauty...oil of joy instead of mourning...praise instead of despair...

In the forests, there will still be blackness for a time, but new growth will come...and I have to believe that good will come after the horrors of the deadly protests...beauty will reign somewhere, sometime...God's grace will be shown...hope in times of ashes...

Thank YOU...

Psalm 23:3 NLT He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name.